Device for clearing horses from vehicles.



No. 694,363. Patented Mar. 4, I902.

- L. L. 8.1!. W. FOX.

DEVlGE FGRBLEARINGHORSES FROM VEHICLES (Apylication filed. Oct. 29, 1900 fizven fora.

UNITED STATES LLOYD L. FOX AND JOHN W. FOX, OF LOWELL, MAINE.

DEVICE FOR CLlEAR lNG HORSES FROM VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,363, dated March 4, 1902.

Application filed October 29,1900. Serial No. 34 .709. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LLOYD L. FOX and JOHN W. FOX, citizens of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Penobsoot and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Clearing Horses from Vehicles; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention consists of an improved device for clearing a horse fromja vehicle, and is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an isometric view of whiffietree with tug-detacher. Fig. 2 is a plan of tugdetacher closed. Fig. 3 is a plan of tug-detacher open. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of part of shaft with adjustable stop for thill-holder. Fig. 5 is an end view of stop. Fig. 6is aperspective view of thill-holder, holdback, and connection-strap.

Similar letters refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

The object of ourinvention, as indicated by its title, is to enable the driver instantly and at will to free the horse from the vehicle to which he is harnessed and secured by the tugs and holdbacks, and by means of our device that object may be accomplished from the vehicle itselfby a single motion, consisting in throwing backward the lever L and a few forward steps of the horse.

At each end of the whiffletree A are attached U-shaped bearings B,havin g bolt-holes b to receive the spring-bolts 0, supported in them and also in the bearings D upon the back of the whiffietree A, which spring-bolts are actuated and forced into the bearings B by springs c. The inner ends of the bolts O terminate with the arms 0, pivoted upon the bracket E, which is rigidly secured to the whiffletree, and the bolts 0 and armsO' are pivoted together, forming toggle-joints at m, and the arms 0 are so curved or bent as to cross each other, as shown in Fig. 2, when the' bolts are in the bearings in B, in which position they are firmly held by the springs c. The tips 10 of the arms 0' are bent reversely, as shown in the figures, and terminate in any convenient form which will give a hold and enable each of the arms 0 to be operated separately by hand. The lever L is pivoted at y to the hanger F, secured to the whiflletree, and projects upward in front of the crossed arms 0, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, through the slot 6 in the bracket E, by which slot it is supported and guided.

The construction thus far described is for the sole purpose of detaching the tugs, and before describing its operation we will briefly explain the other feature of our device. We use no holdback-hook, but in place thereof the stop G, adjustable at any desired point on the shaft H by means of a screw-bolt and nut g. Connecting-straps J unite the thill-holder I to the holdback K, and the thill-holder backed against the stop and connected, as stated, with the holdback-strap enables us to dispense with the holdback-hook.

In operation the horse, being harnessed, is backed into the shafts until the thill-holders rest against the stops G, and the spring-bolts O are shot through the butt-holes of the tugs and the outer holes in the bearings B by operating each of the arms 0 separately by hand, and the horse is now fully harnessed in thevehicle, the arms .0 being crossed in the position shown in Fig. 2. By a single back= ward thrust of the lever L the crossed arms 0 are forced open to the position shown in Fig. 3 and the spring-bolts O are simultaneously withdrawn from the bearings B and from the butt-holes of the tugs, letting the tugs go free, while the moment the horse steps forward the thillholders slide from the shafts and the horse is absolutely cleared from the vehicle. The grip of the opened arms upon the lever, due to the action of the springs c,

holds the lever-L in its reversed position until it is desired to harness again, when a forward thrust of the lever permits the expansion of the spring to throw the spring-bolts O through the butt-holes of the tugs and into the bearings B.

The advantages of our device are easily ap-' Having thus described our invention, what ings a hand-lever pivoted to said bracket and we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is

A device for clearing a horse from a vehicle consisting of the combination of a whiffletree having bearings at each end adapted to receive spring-bolts and a backwardly-proj ecting bracket at its center; two spring-bolts working in said bearings and having arms pivoted to their inner ends, said arms being also pivoted to said bracket and bent to cross each other when said bolts are in said bearprojecting upwardly between said arms; a

stop on each shaft shaped to check the back- 15 ward movement of the thill-holders on the shaft; two thill-holders; two holdback-straps; and straps connecting each holdback-strap with the corresponding thill-holder.

LLOYD L. FOX. JOHN W. FOX.

Witnesses:

- B. O. PREBLE,

GEORGE LORD. 

